Mr. S monologue — Seeking his fortune, and other dialogues

(_standing still for a moment, speaks in a fierce manner_). That woman (_looking toward MISS T._) has been tormenting me. I was engaged in improvising music, an opera which would have far exceeded anything that Verdi or Meyerbeer ever composed, and was just arranging one of the most delicate passages, when that woman knocked at my door. (_Enter SHERIFF and keeper by entrance back of MR. S._) Of course the interruption was fatal to my opera. And what did she come for? Why, she wanted me to go to the parlor piano, because my music disturbed her. And through her means, that divine opera is lost to the world. (_In a loud tone._) I will kill her! (_more fiercely_) I will annihilate her! I will crush her to atoms! (_AMANDA faints, MRS. J. clasps her hands with a deprecating gesture, and MR. S. dashes after MISS T., who has sunk with a frightened air into a chair in the farther corner. The SHERIFF seizes MR. S. from behind. The latter struggles furiously, but vainly._)